How Long Is “A Christmas Tale”?

Paco Plaza, the Spanish horror heavyweight behind such deeply disturbing frighteners as REC (with Jaume Balaguero) and Second Name, shows that the seeds of cruelty are more sinister when planed early in this tale of a desperate thief trapped in a well, and the children who go back on their promise to help her out. A group of children spending the holidays in a summer resort village are playing in the woods when they make a most unsettling discovery: A woman dressed in a Santa Claus outfit is trapped at the bottom of a very deep well. Upon approaching the local police for help, the kids discover that the stuck Santa is actually a dangerous thief who has recently disappeared following a daring heist. According to the cops she made off with a substantial amount of cash, a revelation that prompts the kids to go back to the well and begin bargaining in monetary terms. Should the thief give up her will give up the cash, say the kids, they will help her out of the well. It seemed like a straightforward plan, but once they had the cash in hand the kids find themselves reluctant to follow through on their end of the bargain - who's to say that she won't snatch the cash right back and kill them all once she gets free anyway? While they make the decision not to free the woman, they return to the well day after day to feed her and look after her. With each passing day the woman's forced captivity begins to more closely resemble torture, her body weakening due to a steady diet of children's food and her mind growing unhinged due to the grimness of her situation. Then, one day, the children return to find the well empty. Santa is coming for them, but this year instead of waiting by the chimney they'll be running for their lives.